Ezra 3 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 By the time of the seventh month, the Israelites had settled in their towns, and the people gathered together as one in Jerusalem.
1 When the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.
2 Then Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and the priests with him, together with Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and his relatives, started to build the altar of the God of Israel in order to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, as instructed by the Law of Moses, the man of God.
2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up with his brothers the priests and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his relatives, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
3 Even though they were afraid of the local people, they set up the altar on its original foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both morning and evening burnt offerings.
3 In spite of their fear because of the peoples of the surrounding lands, they set the altar on its base; and they offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh, even burnt offerings morning and evening.
4 They observed the Festival of Shelters as the Law required, sacrificing the specified number of burnt offerings each day.
4 They kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required;
5 After that they also presented the daily burnt offerings and the new moon offerings, as well as those for all the yearly festivals of the lord and for those who brought voluntary offerings to the Lord.
5 and afterward the continual burnt offering, the offerings of the new moons, of all the set feasts of Yahweh that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered a free will offering to Yahweh.
6 So from the first day of the seventh month, the Israelites began to present burnt offerings to the Lord, even though the foundation of the Lord's Temple had not been laid.
6 From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh; but the foundation of Yahweh’s temple was not yet laid.
7 They paid masons and carpenters, and provided food and drink and olive oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre for them to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to Joppa by sea, as King Cyrus of Persia had authorized.
7 They also gave money to the masons and to the carpenters. They also gave food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus King of Persia.
8 In the second month of the second year after arriving at God's Temple in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and those with them—the priests, the Levites, and everyone who had come back to Jerusalem from captivity—began the work. They put Levites twenty years and older in charge of building the Lord's Temple.
8 Now in the second year of their coming to God’s house at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of Yahweh’s house.
9 Jeshua and his sons and relatives, Kadmiel and his sons, the descendants of Yehudah, the sons of Henadad and their sons and relatives, all of them Levites, supervised those working on God's Temple.
9 Then Jeshua stood with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together to have the oversight of the workmen in God’s house: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brothers the Levites.
10 When the builders laid the foundation of the Lord's Temple, the priests dressed in their special clothes and carrying trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) carrying cymbals, all took their places to praise the Lord, following the instructions given by King David of Israel.
10 When the builders laid the foundation of Yahweh’s temple, they set the priests in their vestments with trumpets, with the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise Yahweh, according to the directions of David king of Israel.
11 They sang with praise and thanks to the Lord: “God is good; for his trustworthy love for Israel lasts forever.” Then everyone there gave a tremendous shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the Lord's Temple had been laid.
11 They sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to Yahweh, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever toward Israel.” All the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Yahweh, because the foundation of Yahweh’s house had been laid.
12 But many of the older priests, Levites, and family leaders who remembered the first Temple wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this Temple, though many others shouted for joy.
12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. Many also shouted aloud for joy,
13 However, nobody could tell the shouts of joy from the cries of weeping, because everyone was making so much noise—so much so it could be heard a long way away.
13 so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people; for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard far away.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Henadad
Named as the father of the Levites ("sons of Henadad") who supervised the temple work; Binnui son of Henadad helped rebuild the wall.
Cited in the guide: Ezra 3:9; Nehemiah 3:18; Nehemiah 10:9
Jeshua
Levite who returned with Zerubbabel, supervised the temple work with Kadmiel, taught the people the Law, and led the confession and blessing. The list in Neh 10:9 names a Jeshua…
Cited in the guide: Ezra 2:40; Ezra 3:9; Nehemiah 8:7
Kadmiel
Levite whose family returned and who, with Jeshua and the sons of Henadad, oversaw the temple builders; he later joined in the Levites’ prayer and the covenant.
Cited in the guide: Ezra 2:40; Ezra 3:9; Nehemiah 9:4
Shealtiel
A son of the exiled king, a link between fallen throne and hoped-for return.
Cited in the guide: 1 Chron. 3:17; Ezra 3:2; Hag. 1:1; Matt. 1:12; Luke 3:27
Zerubbabel
He led the return from Babylon and rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem.
Cited in the guide: Ezra 3-6; Hag. 2:23; Zech. 4; Matt. 1:12-13
Cross references (12)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Acts 4:32; Leviticus 23:24; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Nehemiah 7:73–8:2; Acts 2:46
- 2 Luke 3:27; Haggai 1:1; Ezra 2:2; 1 Chronicles 3:17; Exodus 20:24–25
- 3 Numbers 28:2–8; Ezra 4:4; Exodus 29:38–42; 2 Chronicles 4:1; Ezra 8:21–22
- 4 Exodus 23:16; Numbers 29:12–38; Nehemiah 8:14–17; Zechariah 14:16–19; John 7:37
- 5 Numbers 29:39; Numbers 28:19; Numbers 29:8; Deuteronomy 12:17; Numbers 29:2
- 7 1 Kings 5:6; Acts 12:20; Acts 9:36; Jonah 1:3; 1 Kings 5:9–11
- 8 Ezra 4:3; 1 Chronicles 23:4; 1 Chronicles 23:24–32; Numbers 4:3
- 9 Ezra 2:40; Nehemiah 7:43; Ezra 3:8
- 10 1 Chronicles 25:1–7; Zechariah 4:10; 1 Chronicles 16:4–7; 1 Chronicles 6:31–48; 1 Chronicles 15:27
- 11 Psalm 106:1; 1 Chronicles 16:34; Psalm 107:1; Psalm 103:17; Psalm 118:1
- 12 Haggai 2:3; Jeremiah 31:8–9; Matthew 13:31–32; Isaiah 60:22; Daniel 2:34–35
- 13 Luke 19:37–40; 1 Samuel 4:5; 1 Kings 1:45; Jeremiah 33:11; Psalm 100:1–2
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences